Packt Publishing celebrates their 2000th title with an exclusive offer - We've got IT covered!

Known for their extensive range of pragmatic IT ebooks, Packt Publishing are celebrating their 2000th book title `Learning Dart’– they want their customers to celebrate too.

To mark this milestone Packt Publishing will launch a ‘Buy One Get One Free’ offer across all eBooks on March 18th – for a limited period only.

`Learning Dart’ was selected as a title and published by Packt earlier this year. As a project that aims to revolutionise a language as crucial as JavaScript, Dart is a great example of an emerging technology which aims to support the community and their requirement for constant improvement. The content itself explains how to develop apps using Dart and HTML5 in a model-driven and fast-paced approach, enabling developers to build more complex and high-performing web apps.

David Maclean, Managing Director explains `It’s not by chance that this book is our 2000th title. Our customers and community drive demand and it is our job to ensure that whatever they’re working on, Packt provides practical help and support.

At Packt we understand that sometimes our customers want to learn a new programming language pretty much from scratch, with little knowledge of similar language concepts. Other times our customers know a related language fairly well and therefore want a fast-paced primer that brings them up to a competent professional level quickly.

That’s what makes Packt different: all our books are specifically commissioned by category experts, based on intensive research of the technology and the key tasks.’

Since 2004, Packt Publishing has been providing practical IT-related information that enables everyone to learn and develop their IT knowledge, from novice to expert. 

Packt is one of the most prolific and fast-growing tech book publishers in the world. Originally focused on open source software, Packt contributes back into the community paying a royalty on relevant books directly to open source projects. These projects have received over $400,000 as part of Packt’s Open Source Royalty Scheme to date.

Their books focus on practicality, recognising that readers are ultimately concerned with getting the job done. Packt’s digitally-focused business model allows them to quickly publish up-to-date books in very specific areas across a range of key categories – web development, game development, big data, application development, and more. Their commitment to providing a comprehensive range of titles has seen Packt publish 1054% more titles in 2013 than in 2006.

Erol Staveley, Publisher, says `Recent research shows that 88% of our customers are very satisfied with the service knowing that we offer a wide breadth of titles in a timely manner, and owing to the quality of service that they receive 94% of customers are willing to recommend Packt to friends and family. It’s great that we’ve hit such a significant milestone, and we want to continue delivering this fantastic content to our customers.’

Here are some of the best titles across Packt's main categories - but Buy One, Get One Free will apply across all 2000 titles:

·         Web Development

·         Big Data & Cloud

·         Game Development

·         App Development

SQL Server : Rules of Database Normalization (Poster)

I was going through an article written by Joe Celko in www.sqlservercentral.com and found very interesting poster related to database normalization rules.

"Many years ago, there was a magazine named Database Programming & Design which published a poster on Normalization by Marc Rettig as a subscription renewal premium. It was so popular that it is still around after all this time. It follows one example, the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm database."

Hope, this poster may help new SQL folks to understand the normalization. :)

SSRS : I have officially reviewed SQL Server 2012 Reporting Services Blueprints book for Packt Publishing

Folks, I have good news for you all !

I have opted some time out of my busy schedule for officially reviewing the book on SQL Server 2012 Reporting Services Blueprints with Packt Publishing which was published on 28th Oct 2013.

This book does not require readers to have advance knowledge of T-SQL, but the readers are expected to know how to write basic aggregates in T-SQL. SQL Server Reporting Services architecture and any pertinent information are not included in this book. Knowing how data sources and datasets work in advance will greatly help you to progress through the tutorials quickly. This book is perfect for those new to SQL Server Reporting Services. Other SQL Server users, such as database administrators, who are getting involved in report development can greatly benefit from the fast-paced style of this tutorial book.

I would request you all to read this book and provide your valuable feedback. :)

SSIS : SSIS toolbox is not visible in SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT)

Yesterday, I was asked by one of my reader that he is not able to see the toolbox in SSIS 2012.  I have provided the way of getting it and thought of sharing which may help you guys.

Previous to SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT), we were using Business Intelligence Development Studio (BIDS) to develop SSIS packages. In BIDS when we click on Toolbox icon which opens the SSIS Toolbox window whereas in SSDT which opens the user control toolbox as shown below:

So, how to get the SSIS toolbox in SSDT?  There are two ways to get the toolbox, one is by clicking on the icon as shown below or selecting the menu from View -> Other Windows -> SSIS Toolbox

Hope you got the SSIS toolbox in SSDT J

SQL Server : Find out Nth highest salary of employee using RANK() or DENSE_RANK() functions in SQL Server

This article is going to hash out some interesting question which is also one of the favorite questions asked in SQL Server interviews.  Hope, you guys got it. J

Yeap, you are right that is “Find out N^th  highest salary of employee”.

In the interviews, we used to get many answers for this questions like using CURSORS, Sub Query etc.,  which is involved lot of SQL statements with low performance.

This can be achieved very easily by using RANK()or DENSE_RANK()functions which were first introduced in SQL Server 2005.  It may be old function but it’s worth of sharing. J

Let us create sample table with few records for this demo.

CREATE TABLE [DBO].[Employee]
(
      [EmpCode]   INT   IDENTITY    (1,1),
      [EmpName]   VARCHAR(100)      NOT NULL,
      [Salary]    NUMERIC(10,2)     NOT NULL,
      [DeptName]  VARCHAR(100)      NOT NULL
)
GO

INSERT INTO [DBO].[Employee] ([EmpName],[Salary],[DeptName]) VALUES ('Priya',60000,'IT');

INSERT INTO [DBO].[Employee] ([EmpName],[Salary],[DeptName]) VALUES ('Chaitu',55000,'IT');

INSERT INTO [DBO].[Employee] ([EmpName],[Salary],[DeptName]) VALUES ('Praveen',35000,'IT');

INSERT INTO [DBO].[Employee] ([EmpName],[Salary],[DeptName]) VALUES ('Sathish',57000,'IT');

INSERT INTO [DBO].[Employee] ([EmpName],[Salary],[DeptName]) VALUES ('Ramana',62000,'IT');

INSERT INTO [DBO].[Employee] ([EmpName],[Salary],[DeptName]) VALUES ('Kiran',75000,'IT');

INSERT INTO [DBO].[Employee] ([EmpName],[Salary],[DeptName]) VALUES ('Krishna',78534,'IT');

INSERT INTO [DBO].[Employee] ([EmpName],[Salary],[DeptName]) VALUES ('Sravani',23000,'IT');

INSERT INTO [DBO].[Employee] ([EmpName],[Salary],[DeptName]) VALUES ('Mahesh',23500,'IT');

INSERT INTO [DBO].[Employee] ([EmpName],[Salary],[DeptName]) VALUES ('Raman',45000,'Accounts');

INSERT INTO [DBO].[Employee] ([EmpName],[Salary],[DeptName]) VALUES ('Raghu',35250,'Accounts');

INSERT INTO [DBO].[Employee] ([EmpName],[Salary],[DeptName]) VALUES ('Noha',27000,'Sales');

INSERT INTO [DBO].[Employee] ([EmpName],[Salary],[DeptName]) VALUES ('Sushma',29500,'Sales');

INSERT INTO [DBO].[Employee] ([EmpName],[Salary],[DeptName]) VALUES ('Sekhar',30000,'Sales');

INSERT INTO [DBO].[Employee] ([EmpName],[Salary],[DeptName]) VALUES ('Ravi',30000,'Sales');

INSERT INTO [DBO].[Employee] ([EmpName],[Salary],[DeptName]) VALUES ('Harini',35000,'Sales');

Hope, successfully the above statements were executed and the records are inserted into [Employee]table.

Let us execute the below query to check the inserted records:

SELECT
      [EmpCode],[EmpName],[Salary]
FROM
      [DBO].[Employee] WITH (NOLOCK)
GO

The output would be as shown below :

Now, the question is to display 4^th highest salary of employee. Before that let us execute and find manually what is the 4^th highest salary in the table using the following query. 

SELECT
      [EmpCode],[EmpName],[Salary]
FROM
      [DBO].[Employee] WITH (NOLOCK)
ORDER BY
      [Salary] DESC
GO

The output would be as shown below :

Now, let us find out the 4^th highest salary of employee using RANK()function:

As we have seen from the above output, the fourth highest salary is “60000” of employee “Priya”, let us execute the below SQL statement and confirm whether it  gives the same output.

SELECT
      [EmpCode],[EmpName],[Salary]
FROM(     SELECT
      [EmpCode],[EmpName],[Salary]
    ,RANK() OVER (ORDER BY [Salary] DESC) AS [Highest]
FROM
      [DBO].[Employee] WITH (NOLOCK)
) AS High
WHERE
      [Highest] = 4
GO

Yeap, this is what we expected right. J

Let me add few more records for other scenarios where we may not use RANK()function, for this example let us insert few more records.

INSERT INTO [DBO].[Employee] ([EmpName],[Salary],[DeptName]) VALUES ('Yash',60000,'IT');

INSERT INTO [DBO].[Employee] ([EmpName],[Salary],[DeptName]) VALUES ('Bhaskar',60000,'Accounts');

INSERT INTO [DBO].[Employee] ([EmpName],[Salary],[DeptName]) VALUES ('Swetha',75000,'IT');

INSERT INTO [DBO].[Employee] ([EmpName],[Salary],[DeptName]) VALUES ('Shailaja',45000,'Sales');

Just execute the below query to check the inserted records:

SELECT
      [EmpCode],[EmpName],[Salary]
FROM
      [DBO].[Employee] WITH (NOLOCK)
GO

Now, again the question is to display 4th highest salary of employee. Before that let us execute and find manually what is the 4th highest salary in the table using the following query.

As we know the 4^th highest salary is “60000”and there are three employees having the same salary. Let us execute the above query and check the result now.

SELECT
      [EmpCode],[EmpName],[Salary]
FROM(     SELECT
      [EmpCode],[EmpName],[Salary]
    ,RANK() OVER (ORDER BY [Salary] DESC) AS [Highest]
FROM
      [DBO].[Employee] WITH (NOLOCK)
) AS High
WHERE
      [Highest] = 4
GO

The output would not be as we expected. L

Let us execute the same query with including [Highest] column in the SELECT statement.

SELECT
      [EmpCode],[EmpName],[Salary],[Highest]
FROM
(    
SELECT
      [EmpCode],[EmpName],[Salary]
    ,RANK() OVER (ORDER BY [Salary] DESC) AS [Highest]
FROM
      [DBO].[Employee] WITH (NOLOCK)
) AS High
GO

From the above query output, we can understand that “60000” salary is went to 5^th position, It’s because If two or more rows tie for a rank, each tied rows receives the same rank.

Also, you can see, it’s skipped the 3rd position because there are 2 guys in 2nd position.

I know what you are thinking, you do not want to skip any position even in tied situation. Am I right?  J

Yeap, For this kind of situation we can go for DENSE_RANK()function.

Let us execute the same query with replacing DENSE_RANK() function instead of  RANK().

SELECT
      [EmpCode],[EmpName],[Salary],[Highest]
FROM
(    
SELECT
      [EmpCode],[EmpName],[Salary]
    , DENSE_RANK() OVER (ORDER BY [Salary] DESC) AS [Highest]
FROM
      [DBO].[Employee] WITH (NOLOCK)
) AS High
GO

From the above query output, you can understand even the values are tied, it is giving rank without any gaps.

Now, let us execute the below statement to find again the 4^th highest though we know it is  “60000”.  

SELECT
      [EmpCode],[EmpName],[Salary]
FROM

(     SELECT
      [EmpCode],[EmpName],[Salary]
    , DENSE_RANK() OVER (ORDER BY [Salary] DESC) AS [Highest]
FROM
      [DBO].[Employee] WITH (NOLOCK)
) AS High
WHERE
      [Highest] = 4
GO

Yeap, we got the same result as we expected. J

The same query can be modified slightly , so that we can identify the N^th  highest salary of employee.

The below query will give us the 2^nd highest salary of employee. If you want, you can change the value and execute. J

DECLARE @iHightest      INT

SET @iHightest = 2

SELECT
      [EmpCode],[EmpName],[Salary]
FROM
(    
SELECT
      [EmpCode],[EmpName],[Salary]
    , DENSE_RANK() OVER (ORDER BY [Salary] DESC) AS [Highest]
FROM
      [DBO].[Employee] WITH (NOLOCK)
) AS High
WHERE
      [Highest] = @iHightest
GO

The output would be :

Sometime, we may need to find out  N^th  highest salary of each department. Here, we go. J

DECLARE @iHightest      INT
SET @iHightest = 2
SELECT
      [EmpCode],[EmpName],[Salary],[DeptName]
FROM
(    
SELECT
      [EmpCode],[EmpName],[Salary],[DeptName]
    , DENSE_RANK() OVER (PARTITION BY [DeptName] ORDER BY [Salary] DESC) AS [Highest]
FROM
      [DBO].[Employee] WITH (NOLOCK)
) AS High
WHERE
      [Highest] = @iHightest
ORDER BY

[DeptName]
GO

The output would be :

From the above result, we could get the 2^nd highest salary for each department. Have you noticed that in the SQL statement I have used PARTITION BY clause

Which divides the result set produced by the FROM clause into partitions to which the DENSE_RANK()function is applied. 

Hope, you have enjoyed reading this article and share your comments. J

Note :

1. RANK()or DENSE_RANK()will work in SQL Server 2005 and above versions.
2. For more info refer http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms173825

SSIS : Step by step process of creating a deployment Manifest file

It may be a simple process to create a deployment manifest file in SSIS for experienced guys, but may be difficult for those who are new to SSIS. So, this article will walk you through the steps to create a manifest file, in other words, deployment utility in SSIS.

Before we start discussion, let me tell you what is manifest file in SSIS. :)

Once we complete the development of the package, the next step would be deploying the package in different machine / server. The deployment utility which contains the files you need to deploy like packages, configuration files, Readme file (which might be placed in Miscellaneous folder) etc., These files are included automatically in the deployment utility when we built the package.

Now, Its time to create a manifest file in SSIS. :)

For this example, I have already created one sample package and the package folder will contains the following files before you build a solution or package.

When you build a package as shown below :

After you built the package, you could see one extra folder is created in the name of “bin” inside the package folder which will contain the deployment utility once we create it.

By default, the output path would be “bin”, but this folder name can be changed by selecting the project and right click properties as below :

Just open the bin folder and check, you could see only ImportCSV.dtsx file.

As I said before, its very easy process to create a deployment manifest file which I am going to show now :

Select your project and right click -> Go to Properties -> Deployment Utility and make CreateDeploymentUtility as "True" which is by default “False”.

The deployment utility path can be changed in DeploymentOutputPath as when required. :)

Click “OK” button.

Again, Let us go and build / rebuild solution or package.

Once you built, just go to “bin” folder and check, you could see a new folder as “Deployment”.

Open the folder and could see the manifest file has been created in the name of “ImportCSV.SSISDeploymentManifest” which will be used to send for deployment in other machines / servers.

Let us test, how it works? Double click the manifest file and follow the steps as below :

Press “Next” button.

You can deploy the package either in “File System” or “SQL Server” deployment. For this demo, let us go with default option i.e “File System” deployment. Press "Next" button.

Change the folder location, if you want, otherwise press “Next” button.

Press “Next” button.

Here, you can see the installation details and click “Finish” button to complete the deployment.
In this example, I have not included any configuration or miscellaneous files, so you could see only “ImportCSV.dtsx” file in the deployed folder.

Keep reading this page for XML configuration and adding miscellaneous files in the SSIS package.

Hope, you have enjoyed by reading this article and your comments on this article would be highly appreciated.:)

Note :

1. Please keep in mind that you cannot deploy a single package, if you have multiple packages in the project. In this case all the packages will be deployed.
2. For further info, please refer Books Online.

SQL Server : Step by step installation guide for SQL Server 2012 (Denali)

I have so exciting news! Microsoft has released SQL Server 2012 RTM (Code name “Denali”) on March 6 for manufacturing and download the evaluation edition from http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29066

As my laptop is 32-bit system, so I have downloaded the following files from the above link. Likewise, you can download the files for 64-bit system(x64) too. :) Finally, check your system requirements from the same link.

ENU\x86\SQLFULL_x86_ENU_Core.box
ENU\x86\SQLFULL_x86_ENU_Install.exe
ENU\x86\SQLFULL_x86_ENU_Lang.box

After downloading the above files, your system will look like below:



Double click the “SQLFULL_x86_ENU_Install.exe”, it will extract the required files for installation in the “SQLFULL_x86_ENU” folder as shown below:



Click the “SQLFULL_x86_ENU” folder and double click “SETUP” application.



Checking your system requirements for installation.



When you see “SQL Server Installation Center” screen, it means that your system configuration is perfect for “Denali” installation. :)



Click installation from the left pane and select “New SQL Server stand-alone installation or add features to an existing installation”.



In the “Setup Support Rules” Click "OK" button when you have failed 0. Otherwise fix the issue and click "Re-run" button.



Here, I left default edition “Evaluation”, but you can also choose “Express” edition from the drop down list. (Leave the product key as of now, later you can convert to licensed version at any time, refer the above link.



Press “Next” button.



Select the “I accept the license terms” and click “Next” button.



I have installed in “Offline” mode, So I got the above error message otherwise, it does windows update automatically and will continue the process. :)

Press “Next” button.





Press “Next” button, if all status are passed. Otherwise fix the issue and press “Next” button.



I left the default feature “SQL Server Feature Installation”, if you do not want to change the option then  press “Next” button.



Select the features and change the “Shared feature directory” if you want, otherwise press “Next” button.





Press “Next” button if failed count is 0.



As I have already 2 instances, so I have selected “Named Instance” and given the instance (server) name.  You can change “Instance root directory” if you want. Otherwise, press “Next” button.



It will not allow, if you do not have sufficient space in the disc. Press “Next” button.



You can change the “Startup Type” for SQL services in the tab. Which also can be done in the Control Panel “Services” after installation.



Change the “Collation” if you want, otherwise Press “Next” button.



Choose the authentication mode and specify the “Administrator” user. Here, I have selected “Add Current User”. Also, you can change the “Data Directories” and enable “FILESTREAM” if you want , otherwise Press “Next” button.



You can change the Analysis Services “Server Mode” and “Administrator” user. Here, I have selected “Add Current User”. Also change the “Data Directories” if you want , otherwise Press “Next” button.

Note : You can select only one server mode to use: “Multidimensional and Data Mining Mode” or “Tabular Mode”. If you want both, you need to run the setup again after the first instance setup. Refer Books online.



Here, you need to choose “Reporting Services Native Mode” and press “Next” button.




“Distributed Replay Controller” service feature is new in SQL Server 2012, here specify the user who should have permission to use this service. Press “Next” button.

Note : Distributed Replay feature helps you assess the impact of future SQL Server upgrades.
Refer http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff878183(v=sql.110).aspx



Specify the Controller Machine name which should have “Distributed Replay Controller” service. Also you can change the working directory and Press “Next” button.





Press “Next” button, if failed count is 0.



Here, you can find the list of "SQL Server 2012" features which will be installed. If you would have missed to enable any features, click “Back” button and enable. Otherwise press “Install” button to proceed.



You can see installation progress. Press “Cancel” button, if you want to stop the installation.





After the successful installation, your screen should look like below :



Wow, you have successfully installed SQL Server 2012 and to confirm the successful of installation from the screen, you can find the “Succeeded” for all the features and refer summary log file for further info.
Press “Close” button.

Now, you can play with SQL Server 2012 features.
Go to “SQL Server 2012” menu and click “SSMS”.







Select appropriate SQL Server 2012 instance and authentication mode and click “Connect” button.



Now, you are in SQL Server 2012 management studio. :)



Now, you can right click and change the “New Vertical Tab Group”.



Write your favorite query and execute. All the very best for your learning :)

I hope, this article would have guided you to install SQL Server 2012 ("Denali").